Weaponization of Space: Understanding Strategic and Technological Inevitabilities

It is inevitable that humankind will weaponize space and equally likely that this will take place in the next 30 years. The United States is in the early stages of a transition from using space assets to support combat operations on the surface of the earth to using space assets to conduct combat operations in space, from space, and through space. This paper discusses factors driving the United States to take its first steps to weaponize space. It is time for the Air Force to build the doctrinal framework for combat operations in, from, and through space that will guide the technological development of space assets just as the doctrine of strategic bombardment guided Air Force thought and aircraft development prior to World War II. This paper discusses the transition from an air to a space force by examining required changes to Air Force doctrine in terms of the framework of its six core competencies to prepare the Air Force to organize, train, and equip aerospace forces for conducting combat operations in space. (66 refs.)